GRE. A husband! a devil.
Hor. I say, a husband.
GRE. I say, a devil: Think'st thou, Hortensio, though her father be very rich,

any man is so very a fool as to be married to hell? HoR. Tush, Gremio, though it pass your patience and mine to endure her loud

alarums, why, man, there be good fellows in the world, an a man could light

on them, would take her with all faults, and money enough. GRE. I cannot tell; but I had as lief take her dowry with this condition,—to

be whipped at the high-cross every morning. Hor. 'Faith, as you say, there's small choice in rotten apples. But, come;

since this bar in law makes us friends, it shall be so far forth friendly maintained, till by helping Baptista's eldest daughter to a husband, we set his youngest free for a husband, and then have to 't afresh.—Sweet Bianca! -Happy man be his dole! He that runs fastest gets the ring. How say

you, signior Gremio ? GRE. I am agreed: and 'would I had given him the best horse in Padua to

begin his wooing, that would thoroughly woo her, wed her, and bed her, and rid the house of her. Come on.

[Exeunt GREMIO and HORTENSIO. TRA. (Advancing.) I pray, sir, tell me,—Is it possible

That love should of a sudden take such hold?
Luc. O Tranio, till I found it to be true,

I never thought it possible, or likely;
But see! while idly I stood looking on,
I found the effect of love in idleness :
And now in plainness do confess to thee, -
That art to me as secret, and as dear,
As Anda to the queen of Carthage was,-
Tranio, I burn, I pine, I perish, Tranio,
If I achieve not this young modest girl :
Counsel me, Tranio, for I know thou canst;

Assist me, Tranio, for I know thou wilt.
Tra. Master, it is no time to chide you now;

Affection is not rated from the heart:
If love have touch'd youạ, nought remains but so, -

Redime te captum quam queas minimo.
Luc. Gramercies, lad; go forward, this contents ;

The rest will comfort, for thy counsel 's sound.

• If love have touch'd you. Monck Mason, one of the most prosaic of the commentators, very gravely refers the exquisite word touch'd to the shoulder-clap of the bailiff:—" It is a common expression at this day to say, when a bailiff has arrested a man, that he has touched him on the shoulder.” One would think it impossible for a reader of Shakspere to forget how favourite s word this is with him, and how beautifully he uses it, as he does a thousand other words, to convey, by a syllable or two, an idea which feebler writers would have elaborated into many lines. Who can remember

“ One touch of nature makes the whole world kin," and not smile at Monck Mason with his bailift?

Tra. Master, you look'd so longly on the maid,

Perhaps you mark'd not what's the pith of all.
Luc. O yes, I saw sweet beauty in her face,

Such as the daughter of Agenor had,
That made great Jove to humble him to her hand,

When with his knees he kiss'd the Cretan strand?.
TRA. Saw you no more ? mark'd you not, how her sister

Began to scold; and raise up such a storm,

That mortal ears might hardly endure the din? Luc. Tranio, I saw her coral lips to move,

And with her breath she did perfume the air ;

Sacred, and sweet, was all I saw in her.
Tra. Nay, then, 't is time to stir him from his trance.

I pray, awake, sir: If you love the maid,
Bend thoughts and wits to achieve her. Thus it stands :-
Her elder sister is so curst and shrewd,
That, till the father rids his hands of her,
Master, your love must live a maid at home;
And therefore bas he closely mew'd her up,

Because she shall not be annoy'd with suitors.
Luc. Ah, Tranio, what a cruel father's he!

But art thou not advis'd, he took some care

To get her cunning schoolmasters to instruct her?
TRA. Ay, marry, am I, sir; and now 't is plotted.
Luc. I have it, Tranio.
TRA.

Master, for my hand,
Both our inventions meet and jump in one.
Luc. Tell me thine first.
TRA.

You will be schoolmaster,
And undertake the teaching of the maid:

That's your device.
Luc.

It is: May it be done?
TRA. Not possible. For who shall bear your part,

And be in Padua here Vincentio's son ?
Keep house, and ply his book; welcome his friends;

Visit his countrymen, and banquet them?
Luo. Basta ; content thee; for I have it full.

We have not yet been seen in any house ;
Nor can we be distinguish'd by our faces,
For man or master: then it follows thus ;-
Thou shalt be master, Tranio, in my stead,
Keep house, and port, and servants, as I should :

Shall. In the original, will. Rowe made the correction.
Port-state, show. Thus, in · The Merchant of Venice,' Act III., Scene 2:-

" And the magnificos of greatest port."

[They exchange habits.

I will some other be; some Florentine,
Some Neapolitan, or meaner man of Pisa.
"T is hatch'd, and shall be so :-Tranio, at once
Uncase thee; take my colour'd hat and cloaka :
When Biondello comes, he waits on thee;

But I will charm him first to keep his tongue.
TRA. So had you need.

In brief, sir, sith it your pleasure is,
And I am tied to be obedient,
(For so your father charg'd me at our parting;
“ Be serviceable to my son," quoth he,
Although, I think, 't was in another sense,)
I am content to be Lucentio,

Because so well I love Lucentio.
Luc. Tranio, be so, because Lucentio loves :

And let me be a slave, t' achieve that maid
Whose sudden sight hath thrall'd my wounded eye

Enter BIONDELLO.

Here comes the rogue.—Sirrah, where have you been ? Bion. Where have I been? Nay, how now, where are you?

Master, has my fellow Tranio stol’n your clothes ?

Or you stol'n his? or both ? pray, what's the news ?
Luc. Sirrah, come hither; 't is no time to jest,

And therefore frame your manners to the time.
Your fellow Tranio here, to save my life,
Puts my apparel and my countenance on,
And I for my escape have put on his ;
For in a quarrel, since I came ashore,
I kill'd a man, and fear I was descried.
Wait you on him, I charge you, as becomes,
While I make way from hence to save my life;

You understand me?
Bion.

I, sir? ne'er a whit.
Luo. And not a jot of Tranio in your mouth ;

Tranio is chang'd into Lucentio.
Bion. The better for him. 'Would I were so too!
TRA. So would I, faith, boy, to have the next wish after,

That Lucentio indeed had Baptista's youngest daughter.
But, sirrah, not for my sake, but your master's, I advise
You use your manners discreetly in all kind of companies :

• Colour'd hat and cloak. Fashions have changed. Servants formerly wore clothes of sober hue-black or sad-colour; their masters bore about the hues of the rainbow in their doublets and mantles, and hats and feathers. Such gay vestments were called emphatically coloured.

When I am alone, why, then I am Tranio;

But in all places else, your master Lucentio a.
Luc. Tranio, let's go

One thing more rests, that thyself execute;
To make one among these wooers: If thou ask me why, -
Sufficeth, my reasons are both good and weighty.

[Exeunt.

(The Presenters above speak") 1 Serv. My lord, you nod; you do not mind the play. Sly. Yes, by saint Anne, do 1. A good matter, surely. Comes there any more of it ? Page. My lord, 't is but begun. Sly. 'T is a very excellent piece of work, madam lady. 'Would 't were done!

[They sit and mark.

SCENE II.—The same. Before Hortensio's House.

Enter PETRUCIO b and GRUMIO.

PET. Verona, for a while I take my leave,

To see my friends in Padua ; but, of all,
My best beloved and approved friend,
Hortensio; and, I trow, this is his house :

Here, sirrah Grumio; knock, I say.
Gru. Knock, sir! whom should I knock? is there any man has rebused your

worship? Pet. Villain, I say, knock me here soundly. Gru. Knock you here, sir ? why, sir, what am I, sir, that I should knock you

here, sir?
Pet. Villain, I say, knock me at this gate,

And rap me well, or I'll knock your knave's pate.
Gru. My master is grown quarrelsome : I should knock you first,

And then I know after who comes by the worst.
Pet. Will it not be ?

'Faith, sirrah, an you'll not knock, I 'll wring it;

I'll try how you can sol, fa, and sing it. [He wrings GRUMIO by the ears. GRU. Help, masters, help! my master is mad. Pet. Now, knock when I bid you: sirrah! villain !

• These lines of doggrel are printed as prose in the original. The same remark applies to other passages, which it will be unnecessary more particularly to notice. The doggrel is one of the marks of the early date of the play.

Petrucio. We have thought it right to spell this name correctly, as Gascoigne did, in his • Supposes.' Shakspere most probably wrote the word with the h, that the actors might not blunder in the pronunciation. In the same way Dekker wrote Infeliche. After two centuries of illumination, such a precaution as regards the theatre would not be wholly unnecessary; for when the proprietors of one of our great houses piratically seized upon Mr. Milman's beautiful tragedy of * Fazio, the author was denied the poor privilege of having the name pronounced correctly.

Enter HORTENSIO.

Hor. How now? what's the matter?-My old friend Grumio! and my good

friend Petrucio !-How do you all at Verona? Pet. Signior Hortensio, come you to part the fray?

Con tutto il core bene trovato, may I say. HOR. Alla nostra casa bene venuto,

Molto honorato signor mio Petrucio.

Rise, Grumio, rise ; we will compound this quarrel. Gru. Nay, 't is no matter, what he 'leges a in Latin'.-If this be not a lawful

cause for me to leave his service,— Look you, sir,—he bid me knock him, and rap him soundly, sir: Well, was it fit for a servant to use his master so; being, perhaps, (for aught I see,) two-and-thirty,-a pip out? Whom, 'would to God, I had well knock'd at first,

Then had not Grumio come by the worst. PET. A senseless villain !-Good Hortensio,

I bade the rascal knock upon your gate,

And could not get him for my heart to do it.
Gru. Knock at the gate?–0 heavens !

Spake you not these words plain,—“Sirrah, knock me here,
Rap me here, knock me well, and knock me soundly?"

And come you now with—knocking at the gate ?
Pet. Sirrah, be gone, or talk not, I advise you.
HOR. Petrucio, patience; I am Grumio's pledge:

Why, this a heavy chance 'twixt him and you ;
Your ancient, trusty, pleasant servant, Grumio.
And tell me now, sweet friend, -what happy gale

Blows you to Padua here, from old Verona ?
Pet. Such wind as scatters young men through the world,

To seek their fortunes farther than at home,
Where small experience grows. But, in a few,
Signior Hortensio, thus it stands with me:-
Antonio, my father, is deceas'd;
And I have thrust myself into this maze,
Haply to wive, and thrive, as best I may:
Crowns in my purse I have, and goods at home,

And so am come abroad to see the world.
HOR. Petrucio, shall I then come roundly to thee,

And wish thee to a shrewd ill-favour'd wife?
Thou 'dst thank me but a little for my counsel:
And yet I 'll promise thee she shall be rich,
And very rich :—but thou 'rt too much my friend,
And I'll not wish thee to her.

• 'Leges-alleges.